How to Purchase a Diamond Engagement Ring

 

Know what you want to spend

You will be confronted with a dizzying array of choices when it comes to engagement rings. Have a price range in mind. Going in with fairly specific parameters will help your jeweler find the right engagement ring to fit your budget.

What kind of jewelry does she already wear?
Is she more classic or modern? Feminine or sophisticated? Does she wear more silver or gold? Do her pieces tend to be more delicate or chunky? Simple or ornate? Have these preferences in mind when you set out to shop. If you buy something similar to what she already likes, you can't go wrong.

Know her ring size
If she wears rings, borrow one she already owns. Trace the inner circle on a piece of paper, or press the ring into a bar of soap for an impression. You can also slide it down one of your own fingers and draw a line where it stops. A jeweler can use these measurements to identify her approximate ring size.

Experience Actual Diamonds - How to Buy a Diamond Ring

About Diamonds

Does the thought of purchasing a diamond ring overwhelm you? Maybe you think you don't know enough about certificates, cuts, shapes, grading scales, or colors to make a well informed buying decision. There's good news — contrary to what some sales clerks and web sites would like you to believe, buying a diamond isn't rocket science.

An understanding of diamond grading will give you the technical information needed when making purchasing decisions. And learning about the available diamond shapes will help you narrow down your choices.

Where to Start When Buying Diamonds

If you want to learn the basics of diamond buying, start with our section on the "four Cs of diamonds" which explains the grading system for diamonds.

On the other hand, if you'd rather skip all of the studying and just jump to hand-selected links to diamonds you can purchase today, we've picked out close to 200 diamonds in a wide range of prices.

• Asscher Cut Diamonds
• Cushion Cut Diamonds
• Emerald Cut Diamonds
• Heart Shaped Diamonds
• Marquise Cut Diamonds
• Oval Diamonds
• Pear Shaped Diamonds
• Princess Cut Diamonds
• Radiant Cut Diamonds
• Round Brilliant Diamonds

Diamond Cuts - Round Brilliant Diamond Shape

In contemporary times, the round brilliant diamond has become the most popular diamond shape for the engagement ring.

But diamond cutters have been studying and refining the round cut for much longer than the current popularity — and diamond cutters now use advanced theories of light behavior and precise mathematical calculations to optimize the fire of a round diamond.

Because of the popularity of round diamonds, all diamond stores are well-stocked with round diamonds, providing customers with the greatest range of flexibility in terms of balancing cost versus quality. In other words, whether you are on a limited budget or the "sky's the limit", you will likely be able to find a suitable Round Brilliant Diamond in your price range at most stores.

Choosing a Round Brilliant Diamond

For the round brilliant diamond, selecting the highest quality cut you can comfortably afford is important. For those that can afford it, "Ideal" or "Signature Ideal" is the perfect choice, but gorgeous diamonds can still be purchased with less demanding cut grades.

Diamond Cuts - Radiant Cut Diamond Shape

If you love the fire of the traditional Round Brilliant Cut (the standard diamond engagement ring cut) and the shape of the less fiery Emerald Cut and Asscher Cut, you just may love the Radiant Cut Diamond.

Most square or rectangular cuts just don't live up to the round brilliant for sparkle, but the Radiant Cut was designed for getting maximum brilliance. Like the emerald cut, the radiant cut diamond is often a rectangle (sometimes square) with cropped corners, but that's where the similarities end. Where the emerald cut has long trim lines, the radiant cut is faceted for fire.

Choosing a Radiant Cut Diamond

When purchasing a radiant cut diamond online, be sure to check width and length — there are no "rules" for length/width ratios for the radiant cut and you must review these numbers to determine if the stone is rectangular or closer to square.

Diamond Cuts - Princess Cut Diamond Shape

If you love the fire of the traditional Round Brilliant Cut (the standard diamond engagement ring cut), but want something a little different, you might just fall in love with the icy fire of the square Princess Cut Diamond.

Most square or rectangular cuts just don't live up to the round brilliant for sparkle, but the Princess Cut was designed for getting maximum brilliance from a square cut.

Always ensure that the setting for your princess cut diamond protects the four pointed corners — these are the points most likely to chip (and why most rectangular or square diamond cuts have cropped corners).

Choosing a Princess Cut Diamond

The princess cut diamond is more forgiving of diamond flaws and weaknesses than the less sparkling Emerald Cut Diamond or the Asscher Cut Diamond, so we provided two sets of "minimums" -- one giving more weight to quality and one giving more weight to budget.

Our minimum recommendations for buying princess cut diamonds are as follows (please remember these recommendations are opinion only, and your tastes may vary):

Diamond Cuts - Pear Shape Diamonds

The pear shaped diamond is also called the "teardrop diamond" because of its shape. The pear shaped diamond is a combination cut of the round-brilliant and the marquise (to see examples of these two shapes, visit our diamond shapes page.

The Pear Shaped Diamond is a fiery cut with lots of wonderful sparkle and flash. The elegant lines of the Pear Shaped Diamond lends a sophisticated air to both the simplest and most elaborate ring settings.

Choosing a Pear Shaped Diamond

When purchasing a Pear Shaped Diamond, it's extremely important to pay attention to quality and to select the highest grade cut you can afford. Pear-shaped diamonds are prone to two cutting issues: the bow-tie effect and "high" or "uneven" shoulders.

The image to the left is a simulation of the bow-tie effect. It's not unusual to see "some" bow-tie if you examine a pear-shaped diamond from various angles and in different lights, but what you don't want is an obvious black/dark spot that is dull from every angle and in all lights. If you're "wondering" if the diamond you purchased is suffering from the bow-tie effect, it probably isn't. It's one of those defects, that, when present is obvious.

The picture to the left is a simulation of "uneven shoulders". The non-pointed end of the pear shaped diamond should have a nice round and gentle arc. In addition to "uneven shoulders", sometimes cutters, to increase the carat weight of the diamond "square off" or give a "rounded triangle" end to the pear-shaped diamond. High-shoulders and uneven shoulders decrease the value of the diamond and should be avoided.

Diamond Cuts - Oval Diamonds Shape

The Oval Diamond has beautiful brilliance that's similar to a round diamond. Oval diamonds are also very popular as their length can accentuate long, slender fingers.

The history of the brilliant-cut oval diamond is relatively easy to track because it is a relatively young shape. Created by Lazare Kaplan in the late 1950s -early 1960s, the oval brilliant cut is an elipitical variation of the more common round brilliant.

The modern oval cut is a fiery diamond that reflects light brilliantly. It's a wonderful selection for someone who loves the sparkle of the round brilliant, but desires a less common shape.

Choosing an Oval Diamond

When purchasing an Oval Diamond, it's important to select both the highest grade cut and color that's within your budget.

Our minimum recommendations for buying Oval Diamonds are as follows (please remember these recommendations are opinion only, and your tastes may vary):

Diamond Cuts - Marquise Cut Diamond Shape

The marquise cut diamond (also called, the "navette" cut diamond) is an elongated shape with pointed ends.

The cut was developed for France's Louis XIV who, so enchanted by the fetching smile of the Marquise de Pompadour, commissioned the development of a diamond to match the smile.

The marquise cut is gorgeous when used as a solitaire or when surrounded by smaller diamonds and gemstones.

Choosing a Marquise Cut Diamond

When purchasing a marquise cut diamond online, be sure to check width and length. The length/width ratio is the number that tells you how "skinny" or "fat" the diamond is when viewed from the top.

For a traditional marquise cut, select a diamond in that falls in the 1.75 - 2.25 length/width ratio.

Diamond Cuts - Heart Shaped Diamonds

The heart shaped diamond is essentially a pear-shaped diamond with a cleft at the top. And while that technical description of the heart-shaped diamond is anything but sentimental, the diamond itself is is considered by some to be the most romantic of all diamond cuts.

The heart shaped diamond can be quite fiery with excellent sparkle.

Choosing a Heart Shaped Diamond

The heart-shaped diamond is likely the most difficult diamond shape to purchase online. If you find a heart shaped diamond you'd like to buy online, we strongly recommend you:

1. Review the length to width ratio to determine the heart's proportions (short and fat? elongated? evenly proportion?)
2. Ensure that the seller has an excellent return policy — if the diamond arrives and you don't care for the cleft, you want to be able to either exchange or return the stone.

When purchasing a heart-shaped diamond, it's extremely important to pay attention to quality and to select the highest grade cut you can afford. While "shape" is not the same as "cut", the skill of the cutter is critical with heart-shaped diamonds and a diamond with a high grade cut, likely had a skilled cutter.

Our minimum recommendations for buying heart-shaped diamonds are as follows (please remember these recommendations are opinion only, and your tastes may vary):

Diamond Cuts - Emerald Cut Diamond Shape

As may be evident by the name, the "emerald cut" was originally developed for cutting emeralds, not diamonds. While the emerald gemstone is a relatively hard stone (7.5 - 8.0 on the MOHS scale), it is known for numerous inclusions (naturally occurring internal flaws). The inclusions make the stone vulnerable to breakage, making them difficult to cut. The stepped, normally rectangular cut with cropped corners (shown to the left), known as the "emerald cut" was developed to address these issues.

It was soon discovered that the emerald cut was also suitable for other stones, including diamonds.

The emerald cut diamond can be absolutely stunning. Because of it's long lines, it tends to be less fiery than a "round brilliant" cut, but it also tends to have broader, more dramatic flashes of light. The trim lines of emerald cut diamonds lend an elegant, sophisticated air to both the simplest and most elaborate ring settings.

Choosing an Emerald Cut Diamond

Diamond Cuts - Cushion Cut Diamond Shape

Before 2006-2007, it was difficult to find Cushion Cut Diamonds for sale outside of estate sales and auctions. However, cushion cuts are enjoying a small surge in popularity and are again being offered by select diamond sellers, such as Blue Nile or James Allen.

The cushion cut is an antique cut that most often resembles a cross between the Old Mine Cut (a deep cut with large facets that was common in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries) and a modern oval cut. This shape is also sometimes referred to as the pillow-cut or the candlelight diamond (a reference to cuts designed prior to electric lights, when diamonds sparkled in the light provided by candles).

This cut is not as fiery or brilliant as many of the newer cuts, but it has a marvelously romantic and classic look and definitely stands out from the crowd of round brilliants.

Choosing a Cushion Cut Diamond

Standards for cushion cut diamonds vary widely and more than with most contemporary cuts, much is left to personal taste. So you will easily find cushion cuts that are nearly square, long rectangles, and with varying size tables and depth percentages.

Diamond Cuts - Asscher Cut Diamond Shape

The "Asscher cut diamond" was developed in 1902 by the Asscher Brothers of Holland. It is a stepped square cut, often called the "square emerald cut" and like an emerald cut, the Asscher has cropped corners.

Before 2004-2005, very few stores carried Asscher cut diamonds. But when the Asscher cut was featured on a well known television show and a famous actress' Asscher-cut engagement ring made headline entertainment news, there was renewed interest in this fashionable stepped-square cut.

Today, the Asscher cut has taken a firm place in the minds and hearts of people seeking out engagement rings and available with most online diamond sellers.

Choosing an Asscher Cut Diamond

The Asscher cut is designed to draw the eye into the diamond and as such, you should always select the highest quality stone you can afford. Our minimum recommendations for buying Asscher cut diamonds are as follows (please remember these recommendations are opinion only, and your tastes may vary):

Diamonds Are Bullshit - Reality

This post was originally published on Priceonomics.com.

American males enter adulthood through a peculiar rite of passage -- they spend most of their savings on a shiny piece of rock. They could invest the money in assets that will compound over time and someday provide a nest egg. Instead, they trade that money for a diamond ring, which isn't much of an asset at all. As soon as you leave the jeweler with a diamond, it loses over 50 percent of its value.

Americans exchange diamond rings as part of the engagement process, because in 1938 De Beers decided that they would like us to. Prior to a stunningly successful marketing campaign 1938, Americans occasionally exchanged engagement rings, but wasn't a pervasive occurrence. Not only is the demand for diamonds a marketing invention, but diamonds aren't actually that rare. Only by carefully restricting the supply has De Beers kept the price of a diamond high.

Countless American dudes will attest that the societal obligation to furnish a diamond engagement ring is both stressful and expensive. But here's the thing -- this obligation only exists because the company that stands to profit from it willed it into existence.

So here is a modest proposal: Let's agree that diamonds are bullshit and reject their role in the marriage process. Let's admit that as a society we got tricked for about a century into coveting sparkling pieces of carbon, but it's time to end the nonsense.